ABSTRACT
A,Lges ago I entered the first grade, a teacher’s dr^m of an open vessel thirsty for knowledge and, yes, for values to be poured into it. Every morning the gong rang at nine and some twenty of us rose up and put our right hands upon the general area of our hearts and pledged allegiance to our flag and to the country for which it stood. By about the fourth grade and some 796 pledges later I had begun to wonder about my flag and the country for which it (and we) stood. Why did we say that same thing every day, and then abruptly flop into our seats and turn to doing our sums and tables? What was it for, I wondered; what did it have to do with the other things we did? And, because I could not fathom its use or its meaning in relation to any thing else we did, it became for me, and probably for my fellow pupils, a kind of nonsense chant like those we used when we jumped rope or bounced ball. Perhaps it had the unifying value of a group ritual, but little more, because it was largely mouth-talk even though it emerged from touchingly pious-looking faces.
